Top Tips for Good Posture and a Healthy Back

We all know that the demands of modern day life can manifest themselves in an endless amount of ways. Stress, illness and even depression can all be symptoms of the pressures that we put ourselves under on a day to day basis. A busy lifestyle can also affect us physically and one major way that we can suffer from our weekly routines is with bad posture and back problems. Hours spent hunched over desks, walking around in uncomfortable shoes and even the mental stress we experience can all have an impact on our spinal health.

If you are noticing a difference in your posture or are suffering from any sort of back pain or ailment then read on for our top tips on how to start working on correcting your posture and looking after the health of your spine.

Be active

This one will sound ironic to anyone that suffers from back pain, however exercising is one of the top things that you can do to promote good posture and a healthy spine. Anyone suffering from back pain will know that the thought of exercise will certainly be the last thing you often want to do. However light exercise, when done right, will do wonders for improving the health of your spine. A light walk, a few times a week can relieve back pain significantly. Finding stretching exercises that we help work out neck and shoulder knots and can help keep the shape of spine upright and strong will all go a long way in keeping on top of your posture and the health of your back.

Ergonomics

One of the most important ways that you can be looking after your spine is to be using an ergonomically designed office chair. Many spine surgeons report that one of the major problems with posture today comes from how we are sitting in our offices. As we are sitting in the same position, sometimes for as many as eight hours a day, if that position is forcing our spine into an unnatural position then problems are going to develop. So make sure that the chair you are using in your office is designed to properly support your back and play with cushions to offer additional back support and comfort. You must also ensure that your computer screen is at eye level, so if you are working from a laptop you must make sure that it is elevated to a level that prevents you from stooping over to look at the screen.

Lifting

One of the most common causes of back injury is by picking up heavy items in an improper way. Using your back to lift items is one of the easiest ways to pop a disk or to create damage that can cause you pain for years to come. Just one simple movement can cause an overwhelming amount of damage and pain so always make sure you are lifting items using the strength of your legs and not from the waist using the strength of your back, keeping the object close to your body.

This might sound so simple, but really it is the little things that make a big difference when it comes to good posture and strong spinal health.